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Challenges in Minor Salivary Gland Biopsies: A Practical Approach to Problematic Histologic Patterns

  • Proceeding of the North American Society of Head and Neck Pathology Companion Meeting, March 17, 2019, National Harbor, MD
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Abstract

Evaluation of minor salivary gland biopsy can be fraught with a wide range of problems, including technical limitations due to the small size and distorted nature of tissue received and interpretive difficulties navigating the considerable morphologic and immunohistochemical overlap between widely disparate entities. As such, common pathologic findings can evoke a perplexing differential diagnosis that encompasses malignant, benign, and non-neoplastic processes. This review will present the diagnostic considerations that arise from four histologic patterns that are frequently encountered on minor salivary gland biopsies: squamous differentiation, tubular and cribriform growth, mucin production, and myxoid stroma. The discussion herein will emphasize practical strategies and priorities for navigating these differential diagnoses in a clinically-relevant and cost-effective manner.

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  1. Departments of Pathology and Oncology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 401 N. Broadway, Weinberg 2242, Baltimore, MD, 21231-2410, USA

    Lisa M. Rooper

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  1. Lisa M. Rooper
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Correspondence to Lisa M. Rooper.

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Rooper, L.M. Challenges in Minor Salivary Gland Biopsies: A Practical Approach to Problematic Histologic Patterns. Head and Neck Pathol 13, 476–484 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-019-01010-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12105-019-01010-8

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